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Format C: · 06-11-2011, 08:59 AM

The problem: select all authors whose last name begins with "A".
Easy solution: select each one of them form the tag browser (Calibre does not seem to permit the selection from a grouped tag branch).

I'm actually looking for a more general solution, so I tried to search with regular expressions, with no luck.

The first problem I incurred into is the incredible persistence of previously used searches: the first attempt I made, I accidentally wrote it with a lowercase "a" instead of the capital one. Now, there's no way to use the same expression with the correct case. No matter how I try, Calibre will always get the previous lowercase one.

Another annoyance is that whatever I type in the search field after the colon ":" is interpreted as a command. So, when I try to type "author_sort:A" I end up with the "add files dialog". As soon as I remember my password, I'll open a bug for that...

Getting back to regular expression, I've used the advanced search function and the search field in the library, with the same result: nothing selected.
Here are my attempts:

author_sort:A --> I got all the authors with an "A" somewhere in their names (case insensitive)

author_sort:^A --> Empty list
author_sort:=^A --> Empty list
author_sort:"^A" --> Empty list
author_sort:="^A" --> Empty list

Putting ".+" after the cited RE does not change anything.

So, what can I do to restrict the library to authors whose last name begins with a specified letter (or one from a set of such letters)?

Thank you for your help!

06-11-2011, 08:59 AM	#1
Format C: Guru Posts: 753 Karma: 1496807 Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: The Third World Device: iLiad + PRS-505 + Kindle 3	RegExp in search field The problem: select all authors whose last name begins with "A". Easy solution: select each one of them form the tag browser (Calibre does not seem to permit the selection from a grouped tag branch). I'm actually looking for a more general solution, so I tried to search with regular expressions, with no luck. The first problem I incurred into is the incredible persistence of previously used searches: the first attempt I made, I accidentally wrote it with a lowercase "a" instead of the capital one. Now, there's no way to use the same expression with the correct case. No matter how I try, Calibre will always get the previous lowercase one. Another annoyance is that whatever I type in the search field after the colon ":" is interpreted as a command. So, when I try to type "author_sort:A" I end up with the "add files dialog". As soon as I remember my password, I'll open a bug for that... Getting back to regular expression, I've used the advanced search function and the search field in the library, with the same result: nothing selected. Here are my attempts: author_sort:A --> I got all the authors with an "A" somewhere in their names (case insensitive) author_sort:^A --> Empty list author_sort:=^A --> Empty list author_sort:"^A" --> Empty list author_sort:="^A" --> Empty list Putting ".+" after the cited RE does not change anything. So, what can I do to restrict the library to authors whose last name begins with a specified letter (or one from a set of such letters)? Thank you for your help!